It’s that time of year again. As our summer days gradually shorten and the calendar creeps past the middle of July, the long abyss is ending and we are inching closer and closer to real football. With the 2013 Fighting Irish set to kickoff preseason camp in early August, it’s time to take to projecting what this year’s squad will look like.

Here’s what we know: Gone are two All-Americans — all-time greats at their positions, and national award winners in Manti Te’o and Tyler Eifert. Their shoes will be filled with capable youngsters, but hardly proven commodities. We also know the Irish will be starting over at quarterback, with Everett Golson exiled for academic reasons for the fall semester. Hoping that veteran backup Tommy Rees can rely on a strong ground game? Well, who powers that unit is still up in the air, with a slew of talented but unproven runners waiting to battle it out in camp for carries.

That’s not to say this team is short on talent and filled with questions? Once again, the Irish will have at least two players that are likely locks for All-American honors. Who did the panel judge the best player on the defensive front, Stephon Tuitt or Louis Nix? Is left tackle Zack Martin better than both of them? Where did the talented five-star freshmen rank on our judges list? (I feel like I should be yelling this…)

As we’ve done for the past few years, we’re once again ranking the roster’s top 25 players, an exercise that’s created quite a bit of diversity among the lists I received from our panel of judges. This year, we had eight voters (including yours truly) weigh in — as good of a mix as I think we’ve had since we started doing this. Here’s the group:

With that out of the way, let’s take a trip down memory lane so you get caught up on the prognosticating skills of this exercise the past few years. We’ll roll out the least each day this week, five players at a time, with some observations in between. (Feel free to play along in the comments section as well…)

A few thoughts: Just a quick look at our last rankings, done around this time last year. The one name most missed on was obviously Cierre Wood, who came in ranked No. 3 and then ended up going undrafted. Meanwhile, Theo Riddick ended up being the team’s second most important offensive weapon, only behind first-round draft pick Tyler Eifert.

Another big miss was Andrew Hendrix, who some thought had a chance to start at quarterback after a strong fall camp. That ended up not happening, with Hendrix relegated to No. 3 quarterback duty all season. (Tommy Rees, ranked right behind him, became the situational reliever for the offense.)

Both TJ Jones and Zeke Motta outperformed their rankings, though Motta undid a lot of good with an ugly BCS Championship game and subpar testing. Lastly, it seems like our rankings of Everett Golson was just about right — the starting quarterback proved his worth as the season went on, growing into the responsibility heaped on him.

With Notre Dame just one season into Mike Denbrock’s tenure as offensive coordinator, Brian Kelly didn’t look like he was in the market for a new offensive coordinator. But in Mike Sanford, Kelly (and Denbrock) found a coach worth making room for.

In hiring defensive backs coach Todd Lyght, Brian Kelly decided to bring back to the program one of the most talented players of the Lou Holtz era. While his resume may be short as a coach, one listen to Lyght reveals a man whose DNA is football, with coaching taking root after a world-class career.

Notre Dame’s all-time leading rusher is now in charge of coaching the position. Autry Denson’s return to South Bend comes at the perfect time, with Brian Kelly looking to find the right coach and personality to replace Tony Alford on the coaching staff.

After weeks of speculation, Brian Kelly has announced his coaching staff for the 2015 season. The result is four new assistants, a few new assignments and the homecoming of a handful of former Irish stars.

Well crew, I’ve gotta say… I’m a little underwhelmed by the mailbag question. And in the 150+ comments of people screaming at each other about mostly stupid stuff, I think I speak for everybody when I say:

A position that looked like a huge question mark entering the 2014 season ended the year with an embarrassment of riches. After watching Will Fuller emerge with a record-setting sophomore season, the loss of DaVaris Daniels and departure of TJ Jones didn’t do anything to slow the Irish passing game down.

There might not be a deeper unit on the roster than the offensive line. After a lack of depth made it nearly impossible to practice at full speed heading into the 2012 BCS title game, Notre Dame enters the 2015 season with a two-deep most teams would pay for.

Whether it’s the Siberian Express rolling through most of the country (sorry, guys) or the grand reshuffling taking place on Brian Kelly’s coaching staff, Notre Dame announced a delay in the kickoff of spring practice.

After an incredibly impressive run at the position, Notre Dame enters spring practice with nothing but question marks at tight end. After Brian Kelly watched Kyle Rudolph, Tyler Eifert, Troy Niklas and now Ben Koyack churn through his program, he’ll spend spring trying to figure out what exactly he has at the position.

A few days after safety Avery Sebastian announced his intentions, Notre Dame made the commitment and graduate transfer of the former Cal safety official. Sebastian will enroll in graduate school and join the team in June.

After missing out on a running back in the 2014 recruiting cycle, a once crowded depth chart now only features Tarean Folston and Greg Bryant. Two backs that once worried about having to find snaps will now have all the work they could ever want, with the majority of spring spent doing everything they can to stay healthy.

One of the most impressive statistical seasons in school history was flushed down the toilet when Everett Golson could not stop turning the football over. With fumbles, poor decision-making and some plain bad luck plaguing Golson’s otherwise exceptional season, Brian Kelly chose Malik Zaire to be his starter for the Music City Bowl.